Baxter Black, DVM: Chip and Al and Levi’s

Baxter Black, DVM:  Chip and Al and Levi’s

It’s a pairing I never thought I’d see. Chip and Al. Al was a cowboy I worked with for ten years. He was an example to lots of the young buckaroos. He was 25 years older than me. We met one spring when he was in a cow camp on the Brown Place in North Fork, NV.

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Brood Cow Size

Brood Cow Size

Dr. Ken McMillan

Progressive Farmer

Some producers, especially those in the grass-fed niche, feel cows that weigh less than 1,000 pounds work best. And I have several very good producers whose cows average between 1,400 and 1,500 pounds. So one size does not fit all.

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Can we predict genomic defects in cattle?

Can we predict genomic defects in cattle?

Lauren Purdy

Drovers

A research team made up of members from Australia, France, Denmark, the U.S., Germany, Canada and the Netherlands recently announced they have sequenced the genomes of 234 cattle as a part of their 1000 bull genomes project.

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Changes in packer requirements impacting cattlemen

Changes in packer requirements impacting cattlemen

Beverly Perry

KTIV

There are some changes in packer requirements that will affect the information cattle feeders must provide to market their cattle. Monday, a room of cattle producers gathered in Moville, Iowa to learn about those changes. Some of the changes include Tyson Fresh Meats’ desire for additional documentation, and improved operating procedures on the farm.

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Clean Water Act proposal has muddied the waters

Clean Water Act proposal has muddied the waters

Traci Eatherton

Western Livestock Journal

With farmers and ranchers facing up to $37,000 per day in fines, the interpretive rule increases liability for participation in conservation practices, voluntary or not, NCBA says. According to the EPA, the 56 exempted practices, including prescribed grazing, were chosen because they have the potential to discharge if they are done in a “water of the U.S.” This effectively makes grazing a discharge activity, and cattle producers will now be required to obtain a permit to graze unless they have a NRCS-approved grazing plan.

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Grass-fed beef revives breed diversity

Grass-fed beef revives breed diversity

BC Democrat

Breed-wise, the national beef herd is highly homogenized, trending straight-bred and black. But direct marketers who raise cattle strictly on grass and sell to customers without relying on a middleman are helping to feed a revival of breed diversity.

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Impact of time of day of harvest on nitrate concentration in forage sorghums

Impact of time of day of harvest on nitrate concentration in forage sorghums

Levalley, R. C., G. E. Selk, G. A. Highfill, H. Zhang, and C. J. Richards

Oklahoma State University

Forage sorghums are used by cattle producers for summer grazing or harvested for hay. Forage sorghums can be very productive and high quality, but can also accumulate toxic levels of nitrate when stressed.

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Repercussions of failure will be felt for years

Repercussions of failure will be felt for years

Megan Brown

Feedstuffs Foodlink

It’s calving season on my family’s cattle ranch. This is the first year the responsibility for tending to the pregnant and calving cows has been solely mine. My family is not only paying me to do a job, but they are also trusting me with the future of our ranch. If I do my job poorly and we suffer losses because of death or illness, many peoples’ futures will be affected beyond just my own.

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Merck Pushes to Revive Beef Drug

Merck Pushes to Revive Beef Drug

Wall Street Journal

A sweeping effort by Merck to revive a livestock drug it pulled from the U.S. market last year is stalling amid resistance from the nation’s largest beef processors. Merck for months has been preparing to conduct a large-scale study this summer to demonstrate the safety of its Zilmax product.

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A new beef capital?

A new beef capital?

Troy Krause

Redwood Falls Gazette

For generations, cattle production in the United States has been equated with ranches in the south and in the west; more recently, however, that appears to be shifting closer to home….

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